"Tumim & Prendergast explore the concepts of our temporal existence and cast-off items we often ignore. Accident and chance also play a part alongside their characteristic humour (often dark). They offer us clues - to research further and of lives lived." (Art historian Lorna Johnston 2011) We enjoy collaborating with groups of all ages, individual arts practitoners and those from other disciplines, including writers, composers, poets and scientists.
"Tumim & Prendergast explore the concepts of our temporal existence and cast-off items we often ignore. Accident and chance also play a part alongside their characteristic humour (often dark). They offer us clues - to research further and of lives lived." (Art historian Lorna Johnston 2011) We enjoy collaborating with groups of all ages, individual arts practitoners and those from other disciplines, including writers, composers, poets and scientists.
Each piece of work or installation project should beguile the eye of the viewer, the skills employed being integral to the concept behind each artwork. Many of our ideas develop "on the hoof", through the making process. By drawing, painting or embroidering replicas of "throw-away" items as tenderly and lovingly as we can, we are paying tribute to those who have lost or discarded them – for whatever reason. Each item we depict takes on a symbolic status that is part of a bigger picture. The ephemera that floats between all our lives, including images of fleeting moments, is sometimes more emotionally charged and tells more of a story than the objects or formal portraits and momentos we expect to be represented by.
The direction of our practice is increasingly political. We are interested in what it means to be silenced and have been researching the concept of ‘Gaslighting’ particularly from our personal experience of Health and Social Care provision.
Tumim & Prendergast 2019
Curriculum Vitae
Matilda Tumim & Chris Prendergast (BA, MA RCA)
Tumim & Prendergast
Residencies & Public Commissions
2012 - Balfour Hospital and Peedie Sea Centre Art Commission, Appointed by Grampian Hospitals Arts Trust (GHAT), Orkney
2008 - 2nd Floor Lift Lobby, Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital (RACH)
2008 - "Favourite Things" doodles and jigsaw artworks for RACH, Glaitness Primary School, Kirkwall, Orkney
2008 - 'Wallflowers' artworks project in the nursery courtyard , St. Margaret's Hope Primary School, South Ronaldsay
2006 - pARTners Artists in Residence - Scottish Arts Council, Papdale Primary School, Kirkwall Orkney
Private & Third Sector Commissions
2012 - 73 LEAVES, For permanent display at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), Main entrance NCVO headquarters, Islington, London
2007 - "The Gallant Weaver" - choral settings of words by Robert Burns, CD cover artwork and design, To be widely distributed (see http://www.mayfield-singers.org/ for more details)
2005 - "Constellation"- A drawing commission for 'Tullimentan' show case for the Arts in Orkney
2005, The Pier Arts Centre, Touring around Orkney
Exhibitions:
2021 - Surreal Estate (postponed solo show) WASPS project room gallery, Meadow Mill, Dundee 2021 Screen Test - a first ever online group exhibition for WASPS artists. 2019 - Little Originals, Dock Street, Dundee
2019 - WASPS Open Studios
2017 - THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, Suttie Arts Space, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
2016 - BOTTLED UP, Pier Arts Centre, Stromness
2012 - 73 LEAVES, Permanent wall installation, National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Kings Cross, London
2012 - BREAD & ROSES, Motorcade Flash Parade, Bristol
2012 - EMBROIDERED NARRATIVES, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield
2011 - 73 LEAVES, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2011 - RETRIEVE, Limousine Bull, Aberdeen
2009 - SMALL VOLUMES, Timespan, Helmsdale
2009 - TRAVELLING LIGHT, WW and Pharos Galleries, London and Venice Biennale
2009 - IMPOSSIBLE EXCHANGE, Frieze Art Fair, London
2008 - LAST POST, Corsespace, Aberdeenshire
2008 - ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE - Permanent display, Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital (RACH)
2007 - A YEAR OF CONSEQUENCE, The Orkney Museum, Kirkwall, Orkney
2007 - CONSEQUENCES, The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney
2006 - COUPLING, The Peedie Gallery, Arts Development Office, Orkney Island Council
2005 - WEDDED, Stromness Public Library, Stromness, Orkney
2004 - FOUL FlORA, WEIRD WAVES, The Loft Gallery, St.Margaret's Hope, Orkney
Talks & Presentations
2021 Artists Talk at preview of online group exhibition, Screen Test
2020 - invited to host a studio visit via Zoom to explain our Surreal Estate project architecture students at Westminster University
2020 - artists talk for sponsored solo exhibition "Surreal Estate"
2010 - Threads and Leaves - A talk about our collaborative art practice, Heriot Watt School of Textiles, Galashiels
2008 - A presentation of our work, The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney
2007 - Consequences - a musical response, St. Magnus Festival, Kirkwall, Orkney
2006 - Professional Practice and Crossover - a presentation, Highlands & Islands Visual Arts Gathering, Hi-Arts, The Macphail Centre, Ullapool
Publications
2011 – Cover of Hoopla - The Art of Unexpected Embroidery by Leanne Prain, and full chapter on the work of Tumim & Prendergast
2011 - Inclusion of "Promise" in Words are all we have by Rachel Marsden
2009 - Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital - Artworks 2 - a book celebrating the hospital's ongoing artwork programme
2008 - Illustration of artwork in an Orkney Anthology of Poetry
Matilda Tumim
Education
1986-88 Post Graduate Fine Art Painting, The Royal College of Art, London
1982-85 Fine Art Degree, Falmouth School of Art
1981-82 Art Foundation, Chelsea School of Art
Chris Prendergast
Education
1982-85 Fine Art Degree, Falmouth School of Art
1981-82 Art Foundation, Winchester School of Art
Website: https://www.tumimprendergast.com/
